Fill Options and Tips for Photoshop Elements 11

You can use the Fill Layer dialog box in Photoshop Elements 11 to fill a selection with the foreground or background color; you can also choose to fill the selection with color, black, white, or gray. Elements is full of shortcuts and options.

Here are just a few. With the selection active:

Press Alt+Backspace (Option+Delete on the Mac) to fill the selection with the foreground color. All areas within the selection, including transparent areas, fill with the color.

Press Alt+Shift+Backspace (or Option+Shift+Delete on the Mac) to fill only the pixels in a selection with the foreground color, leaving any transparent pixels untouched.

If you’re working on the Background layer, you can also fill the selection with the background color by pressing the Backspace (Delete on the Mac) key. (Pressing Backspace [Delete] on other layers creates a transparent area that shows the image in the layer underneath the selection.)

By selecting the Color option from the Use drop-down menu in the Fill Layer dialog box, you access the Color Picker where you can select any color your heart desires to fill your selection.

Select the Pattern option from the Use drop-down menu in the Fill Layer dialog box to fill the selection with a pattern. Click the arrow next to the pattern swatch and select a pattern from the drop-down panel. Click OK. To access additional pattern libraries, click the Pattern panel menu to select more pattern libraries.

Paint part or the entire interior of the selection by using a Pencil or Brush tool. This option lets you partially fill a selection using a bit of flexibility and creativity. When you paint a selection using Brush tools, Elements confines the paint inside the boundaries of your selection.